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Frozen embryo pregnancy boost

A fertility clinic has become the first in the UK to routinely freeze embryos - to give women more than a 50 percent chance of falling pregnant. Scientists at Cambridge IVF found the technique allowed them to transfer the embryos at the best time for the patient.

It also eliminates some of the side effects of IVF drugs, including weight gain, abdominal pain, vomiting and shortness of breath.

The clinic, which works with Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, achieved a 61.8 per cent success rate for a group of 167 women between the age of 24 and 45 compared with 40.6 per cent when using fresh embryos.

The figure is nearly double the national average of 36 per cent for using fresh embryos, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Consultant embryologist Stephen Harbottle, said: "Although we have been exploring the freeze technique for some years we were, frankly, taken aback by the consistent success we have achieved over the last 18 months, and we think our results will get even better."

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He added: "It seems appropriate that we are able to offer additional services in the year that Britain's first test tube baby Louise Brown celebrates her 40th birthday and the NHS celebrates its 70th anniversary.

"As an NHS clinic our focus is on patient care and research rather than profit - just as it was when Louise Brown was born and the NHS was conceived."

It recently unveiled a new three-cycle IVF package, which costs between £6,740 and £8,990 depending on the drugs needed.

Britain's first test tube baby Louise Brown (Image: GETTY)

Researchers achieved a 61.8 per cent success rate for a group of 167 women (Image: GETTY)

The clinic will offer the new freezing technique at an additional fee of £245 per cycle to cover costs.

The news comes almost a year after many clinical commissioning groups scrapped funding for IVF treatment on the NHS, prompting concerns about where couples would go for treatment.

Dr Harbottle said: "The public deserve access to value for money, high quality healthcare for fertility issues, particularly when you consider fertility is classified by the World Healthcare Organisation as a disease - in this case a disease of the reproductive system. It is an illness just like any other."